Gift Ideas for Men: Gadgets and other Geekery

Okay it’s November 1 which means that it is the official start of the holiday shopping season. The team of helper monkeys at JordonCooper.com are here to help and will be publishing holiday gift guides for men once a week during the month of November which will give you no excuse for having to do last minute shopping in December. Why so early, well while you were sleeping last night, the malls have torn down their Halloween decorations and now look like Santa’s Toy Workshop and already department stores are starting to have Boxing Day sales to get rid of stuff that not even their buyers would give as gifts. Plus, who likes last minute gift buying stress. Today’s gift buying guide is for those geeky guys in your life.

R2D2 :: He is the ultimate gadget and having both served Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, he is built to last. For $200, you can bring him home and reunite him with his proper master. In addition to helping keep your X-Wing fighter’s deflector shields online, this state-of-the-art R2 series astromech droid unit is ready to obey your commands. You can grab his attention by saying “Hey, R2″ and he’s ready for more than 40 voice commands. He remembers his famous friends, like Luke Skywalker, C-3PO or Jabba the Hutt, and each name will stir up a different response depending on R2’s “feelings” for that character. | $199.99 (USD)

Swiss Army Knife :: For those times when R2D2 is busy doing something else, you can’t beat an authentic Swiss Army Knife. Not just any Swiss Army knife but the same model that MacGyver himself used. I know Leatherman’s are the now in vogue but there are times when the old school approach works best. For me, my grandfather carried a jack knife with him every day of his life and while I don’t carry one that often, it reminds me of some family roots and a time where everyone did. | $17 (USD)

Stuhrling Original Men’s Special Reserve Chernabog Skeleton Mechanical Watch :: All men need a watch that turns heads and for $250, this one does exactly that. This stunning timepiece does not have a rotor attached to the movement, so you must manually window the crown to keep it running, a design that puts you in touch with the artistry and precision of automatic movement. Its remarkable 17-jewel mechanical engine can hold 40 hours of power reserve on its ample mainspring, while a silver-tone tonneau case with exhibition back lends durability. Water resistant to 165 feet. | $249 (USD)

The Death Star Lego Kit:: Does Lego know it’s audience or what? At 3,803 pieces, you aren’t getting this for the kids or even letting the kids come into the room where it is housed. It includes the Superlaser control room and target monitor, Imperial conference chamber, TIE Advanced hangar bay with moving launch rack, Emperor’s throne room, droid maintenance room, detention block & trash compactor. Along with it comes 6 new and exclusive minifigures and droids only found in this set: Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in their Stormtrooper outfits, the assassin droid, interrogation droid, Death Star droid and 2 Death Star Troopers. The Death Star measures 41cm tall and 42cm wide and the TIE Advanced measures 9cm wide. | $529.95 (USD)

Genetics Kit by National Geographic :: If you have read the book 1491, you know that your ancestors left “markers” on your DNA that can be traced back tens of thousands of years (doh! There goes my young earth readership). For someone like Wendy who is from Guyana, a culture rich in cross cultural marriage because slavery. Your results will reveal your deep ancestry along a single line of direct descent (paternal or maternal) and show the migration paths they followed thousands of years ago. Your results will also place you on a particular branch of the human family tree. Some anthropological stories are more detailed than others, depending upon the lineage you belong to. For example, if you are of African descent, your results will show the initial movements of your ancestors on the African continent, but will not reflect most of the migrations that have occurred within the past 10,000 years. Your individual results may confirm your expectations of what you believe your deep ancestry to be, or you may be surprised to learn a new story about your genetic background. You will not receive a percentage breakdown of your genetic background by ethnicity, race, or geographic origin. Nor will you receive confirmation of an association with a particular tribe or ethnic group. 23 and Me also offers DNA tests for $99 which offer a wider range of ancestry options. | $99 (USD)

If your toddler is a bit of a geek, you may want to consider the Radio Flyer Retro Rocket. Yes they are probably still in diapers but it is never to young to start preparing them for a career in NASA. | $72.87 (USD)

Moleskine Large Sketchbook :: The Moleskine Large Sketchbook is made with top quality heavy paper and is perfect for on the go drawings sketches and tempera colors. Every Moleskine product is thread bound and has a cardboard bound cover with rounded corners acid free paper a bookmark an elastic closure and an expandable inner pocket that contains the Moleskine history. | $12.21 (USD). If you are like me and prefer the smaller sketchbooks, Dollarama carries a rip off Moleskine for $1.50 a piece. A great stocking stuffer for the freeform thinker in your family.

Maxell iPod Charging Dock :: I have one of these at the lake that I have hooked up to a mini stereo system. As soon as we walk into the cabin, an iPod Nano or Touch is hooked in, charged up, and playing music. Looking back at it, I should have bought three of them. One for the office, one for home, and one for the cabin. It really is a great tool for us iPod addicts. | $14 (USD)

Koda iPod Dock :: I fell in love with this audio and video dock for your iPod the first time I saw it. With a wooden case and classic design, it will look great anywhere in the house or den and they sound great. In addition to playing your music, they are designed to play video as well. YouTube never looked so good. They are $39.99 (Can) at XS Cargo or $50.79 (USD) at Amazon.com.

Sangean WR-1 AM/FM Wooden Cabinet Radio :: At the lake there are a couple of times when a great radio would be really handy, like when the Saskatchewan Roughriders are playing on a Saturday afternoon. Yes a satellite radio is cool but not all sports are on XM and Sirius (which boggles my mind) and there are times when what you want to listen to is being played locally. If that is the case, this is the radio you want. The WR-1 is the culmination of 30 years of experience in the design and manufacture of quality, state-of-the-art radios. Plus, CBC and NPR sound better in a radio that looks like this. | $91.36

One thought on “Gift Ideas for Men: Gadgets and other Geekery”

Welcome

This is a weblog about urban issues, technology, & culture published by Jordon Cooper since 2001. You can read about me and the site here and if you are looking for one of my columns in The StarPhoenix, you can find them here.